Spokes breaking - how many is too many

paudie2005

Hello
Just wondering what's the 'norm' for spokes breaking? I put on a new set of wheels around mid November and have had four spokes snap on the rear wheel since. Each time they have been replaced by local mechanic and he's checked the wheel over but hasn't seen any issues. I'm light enough and not doing anything rough with them. Just wondering do readers here have much of an issue with spokes snapping

ford2600

What are wheels Paudie?

They sound like a really poorly built wheel to me. Your mechanic might mean well but wheel isn't ok if spokes continue to break.

I return under a warranty claim rather than any more messing.

paudie2005

ford2600 wrote: »

What are wheels Paudie?

They sound like a really poorly built wheel to me. Your mechanic might mean well but wheel isn't ok if spokes continue to break.

I return under a warranty claim rather than any more messing.

Thanks for the reply, they are cero ar24's.

ford2600

paudie2005 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, they are cero ar24's.

I'm pretty rough on rear wheels, 85kgs and not the smoothest peddler. Over the years I've put up with crappy wheels fitted on new bikes, but there is no reason to.

If a wheel is well built and ridden within spec it should not fail. Assuming you are under 100kg(weight limit according to Google) they shouldn't be failing.

Email them and tell them how poor wheels have been. Get your money back and get something else.

Merlin, wheelsmith, cycle clinic among others will build budget but strong wheelsets. Dara in Bee Cycles, Tony O'Mahoney in Dungarvan will also. You'll get other names also on here

I've read good reports of the cheaper Campy wheels but have never used them myself.

Wanderer78

not a road cyclist but a mountain biker, ive never broken spokes and would regularly ride trails such as blue, red and black level at places such as bike park ireland. something wrong there op, return wheels

ezra_

I'm 90kg+ and ride over the usual range of irish backroads.
Never broken a spoke

Wishbone Ash

ford2600 wrote: »

...I've read good reports of the cheaper Campy wheels but have never used them myself.

I put up a lot of mileage in varied terrain and conditions on 'off the shelf' Zondas and Sciroccos and have never popped a spoke on them yet. I couldn't really fault them. The only reason I ever have to retire them is due to rim wear.

I had several sets of basic Shimano R500 for commuting and never had a problem with spokes on them either.

(I once had a pair of Mavic Aksiums and was losing a spoke every week. Never again - awful wheels).

C3PO

Never broken a spoke in about 5000 hours of road and mountain bike riding! .

paudie2005

Weepsie wrote: »

Hmm, I've a pair of ar24s that I've never actually used. I also have their ar30s which I've used a bit more last year but they were second hand and had the rear hub swapped.

I've broken 1 spoke of the AR30s which I know wonder is that why original owner changed the hub on them? Mine broke at the hub which I would assume is the most command place they break

They get great reviews, but I'd wonder if they're giving an accurate weight rating as they have some fairly light weight parts on them.

They give a few spare spokes with them, maybe they know something.

I've had trouble free fulcrum 3s that are quite old but I've also managed to break 2 spokes on the fairly bomb proof cxp 33s. Hand built and 32 hole. That said, I'm probably bashing the bike a bit and have a tendency to find the smallest littler ruts in the road

I actually have the ar30's as well and they haven't skipped a beat so was wondering was I really lucky with them so far or were the ar24's sub-standard. I'll do as Ford2600 suggests and get into them see what they say.

smacl

Only broken one spoke on a pair of older wheels that came with a 2nd hand road bike I bought some years back. I later replaced the wheels with Fulcrum 7s which are cheap and reliable and had no further issues. I also have a couple of spare fulcrum spokes stashed in a plastic bag stored in the seat post, in case of emergency a good way from home.

tomasrojo

I used to break spokes on the rear wheel every few months on my Raleigh BSO; they always snapped at the elbow were the spoke goes into the hub flange. I got quite good at changing them. The new spokes never broke, so the problem was cheapo spokes used in assembling the wheel in the factory.

Used to break the rear axle about once a year too (heavy loads on a (screw-on freewheel)-style wheel)(*). Since buying bikes above BSO level, I have never broken a spoke. Or axle.

(*) (I love parentheses (especially nested).)

smacl

tomasrojo wrote: »

(*) (I love parentheses (especially nested).)

Should take up LISP programming so

Lumen

Loose spokes cause uneven load which causes other spokes to break

Mycroft H

Not only uneven but further load on other spokes making them more prone to failure. And then another breaks and the cycle continues

InTheAttic

ezra_ wrote: »

I'm 90kg+ and ride over the usual range of irish backroads.
Never broken a spoke

+1

I'm 90+kg as well and never had a spoke go on me. Have ridden all sorts of awful wicklow roads and never had an issue!

ADW1

I had a set of Easton EA50 and broke spokes on the rear on 6 occasions. (only 4000km). Changed to Mavic Kysrium Elites and have clocked up over 25000km and never had an issue. (weight about 80kg). Would never buy Eastons again as a result.

tomasrojo

Mycroft H wrote: »

Not only uneven but further load on other spokes making them more prone to failure. And then another breaks and the cycle continues

... until the cycle can't continue.

doozerie

paudie2005 wrote: »

Just wondering what's the 'norm' for spokes breaking?

The norm is zero. As Wilde might have said if he'd been a cyclist: "To lose one spoke is a misfortune; to lose more than one is a carelessly built wheel".

It's tempting to assume that weight of rider and riding terrain are significant factors, but while I guess they can play a part, in my opinion they are way down the list of causes relative to poor quality build. As an example, I've hammered MTB wheels with no problems whereas I had 4 spokes snap on the rear wheel of my commute bike in the space of 2 years - I'm 60kg on a fat day and my commute roads are in pretty good condition, so relatively speaking that wheel had an easy life.

I blamed those broken spoke on a (very) badly built wheel, although a badly finished hub could have been a factor (sharp edges on the holes can cause issues, for example). I replaced that wheelset over a year ago and haven't had a single problem since. There are probably exceptions, but if broken spokes are a recurring problem, I'd consider the wheelset (components and/or build quality) to be sub-standard.

magicbastarder

i had my wheel rebuilt after two spokes broke in the space of a couple of months. has been fine since - the old spokes were 14 years old, so possibly just fatigued.

NeedMoreGears

I've had the occasional spoke go - two in the past ten years on two different rear wheels. All was ok with both when the spoke was replaced. I did check the spokes near the failed one in each case and they were ok.

It sounds like there's something going on with the wheel if you're getting repeated failures.